


You See The Same Eyes In Different People

by swampbitch



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Relationships, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Bucky Barnes, Survivor Guilt, Trapped in the soul stone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 13:58:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15050651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swampbitch/pseuds/swampbitch
Summary: Post Infinity War Fix It fic:Trapped in the Soul Stone, Bucky finds himself surprised by just how much Peter reminds him of Steve. He can’t stand to see the kid hurt, and Bucky learns that even though time has changed, heroes haven’t.





	You See The Same Eyes In Different People

**Author's Note:**

> Non-romantic Bucky/Peter, yes-romantic Bucky/Steve!
> 
> Ive been seeing posts comparing Peter to young Steve, and my heart broke. So! Here’s bucky emotionally protecting peter and keeping him from hurting the way he and Steve do. 
> 
> Think of Bucky like a father figure or big brother in this scenario. Read on!

“Steve?” Bucky can feel himself there, solid earth beneath him, the wind on his skin. He feels himself grounded. If he can just get closer, he can touch him, reach Steve again, grab him by the shoulders and keep him safe, like when they were kids.

“Steve…” he tries again, only this time, he doesn’t feel anything. The word evaporates on his tongue. He feels light, breathless, and then suddenly, he feels nothing at all.

Things go black, like the time he was nine and he threw himself between Steve and Joey DeAngelo’s fist in the schoolyard. Only this time, when he comes to there’s no split lip. There is, however, a tiny Steve, except he’s not missing his front tooth, and he’s not rattling on about how much of a dumb punk Bucky is, he could’ve taken Joey just fine, thank you very much. No, this Steve is taller, though not by much, and his sandy blonde hair has turned to a dark curly mess.

“ _Mr. Barnes?_ ” He hears as his mind comes back into focus. He furrows his brow. Mr. Barnes? Is his father here? Why’s Steve’s voice so different? “Mr. Winter Soldier, sir?” _Oh_.

“Spider Kid?” Bucky leans up on his elbow, surveying the kid leaning over him. He’s skinny, still growing into himself with big, expressive eyes and a worried frown that lands a blow somewhere in Bucky’s gut. He knows that frown, and he can read those eyes. Those same eyes were in another skinny kid seventy years ago.

“Spider-- Spider-Man,” the kid grumbles, almost to himself, and Bucky feels himself stifling a grin.

“Spider-Man,” Bucky repeats.

“Peter,” he offers. “My, uh, my name is Peter. I didn’t get to speak to you much, and I’m sorry about the time I had to fight you, that wasn’t a very good first impression, but, um…” The kid is stuttering. Bucky hasn’t stopped staring. “I just-- Do you know where we are?”

Huh. For a second, Bucky had just assumed they’d gone back in time, if the tiny kid fussing over him was any indication. He looks around, gauging their surroundings. There’s...nothing. There’s nothing around them, nothing to go by that gives any indication of where, or when, or what they are.

Bucky thinks back, trying to remember the moment it happened. He remembers fighting, he remembers Steve, and then he remembers the stone. He’d read about it, after they’d told him what Thanos was after. He’d read about the myths of the stones, ancient ones, what people believed they could do, what powers they held.

He remembers the soul stone in particular, remembers how it was said that the stone could trap you inside, like a holding chamber. _Like purgatory_ , Bucky’s deep Catholic roots remind him. Time doesn’t exist wherever they are. Wherever they are right now is limbo, and all they have to do is wait.

Bucky looks up at Peter, looking in his frightened eyes, the eyes of a kid trying to convince himself to be brave. He sits up, places himself next to the kid.

“Peter,” he says. “I think it happened.”

They sit in silence for a long moment, Bucky testing his limbs, stretching out to see if he can still feel them. He’s whole, but it’s like being in a daze. Things feel a bit heavier, like he’s treading water. He sits, probably unnervingly still compared to Peter, whose pulse he can see jumping in his throat. There’s a fine tremor running through his skin like a current. He’s buzzing with fear, anxiety, something both shallow and deep.

Bucky moves toward him, puts a hand on the kid’s shoulder before he has the chance to think. Peter stills. The presence is warm, comforting. For Bucky, it’s almost painfully familiar.

“We’re gonna be okay, kid,” he says with surety he himself doesn’t feel. It doesn’t matter what he feels, he knows, as long as he can convince Peter of it.

“But I don’t understand,” Peter says. His eyes are still wide. Bucky can see through them.

Bucky offers him a kind smile. “Neither do I.”

***

Peter’s a nervous talker. He’s transparent, letting out every anxious thought, and Bucky listens to each one.

“I just… I felt it, you know? I felt like I was dying, I mean I guess I was dying, but I didn’t think I could feel it when it happened. Did you feel it?” Peter asks, wanting reassurance, Bucky’s sure.

“I did.” He runs his fingers through his hair, an anxious habit. “Did it hurt you?” Bucky feels the words come out tightly. Protective.

Peter pauses, thinks. “No… I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve literally been crushed by a truck before, and I thought I was dying then, but this… this wasn’t like that.”  
Bucky raises an eyebrow. “A truck?”

“Well, it was gonna hit these other people, you know? I had to block it, I just swung in and kicked it and, boom, I got crushed.” Peter chokes out a laugh, nervous. “That sounds really bad, I know, but I could take it. I know I don’t look like it but when… whatever happened with the spider happened, I got really crazy strong. I don’t know how and I’ve never been strong before, but it’s crazy. So now that I am, I just, uh, I just like using it. To help, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Bucky says, voice wistful. In truth, he doesn’t exactly know what Peter means, but he knows Steve. Steve’s desperation to help the little guy, because he was the little guy. He hopes this kid at least doesn’t go around picking the fights he finds himself in.

“So this...mutation?” Bucky asks gently. Peter nods, so he continues. “You go through it alone?” He thinks of Steve’s transformation with the serum, then his own. Both done without each other.

Peter nods, fiddling with his sleeve. “Yeah, mostly.” His voice is soft. “I mean, I met Mr. Stark after a little while, and he helped me through it, but in the beginning, it was just me.”

Bucky smiles, and he sees the tension in Peter’s shoulders relax a bit. He has no idea how long they’ll be wherever they are, but he has a sudden longing to make the kid feel the least bit safe. “I went through it alone, too.” He flexes the fingers of his metal arm. This one’s new, Shuri’s vibranium tech that is unmatched by anything he’s had before. Clean of any marks, any stars, any symbols that connect him to the past. It looks like a fresh start.

Peter’s eyes go impossibly wider. “Woah,” he says. “I’m-- I don’t mean to stare, but that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Is it vibranium? Biotech? Calibrates by connecting to nerve endings? Do you move it on your own? It just looks like something from the future.”

Nostalgia pangs in Bucky’s chest. _Where we going?_ Steve had asked the night before he left for London. _The future._ He’d answered. He didn’t know he’d been prophesizing. “Feels like something from the future,” Bucky says.

***

They’ve been talking a while, with Bucky mostly listening. The kid was bullied growing up, short and scrawny and poor compared to the other kids at school. His parents died young, same as Steve’s. He doesn’t get choked up when he talks about it, and Bucky can tell he’s holding it back. Wants to seem strong, bigger than he is. Like the feelings will make him small. He talks of his best friend Ned back home, how the last time he saw him he was jumping out of the school bus and then got into this whole mess. He never got to say goodbye, and Bucky senses survivor’s guilt, like when Steve brings up the fall from the train. Heroes tend to carry their pain on their backs.

Bucky feels Peter’s tone change, like there’s a lump in his throat, and shifts gears, asking him where he grew up instead.

“Forest Hills,” he says proudly.

“Queens?” Bucky chuckles.

“All the best are,” Peter smirks. “You were from Brooklyn right?”

“Bay Ridge, born and bred. And definitely with better bagels than Queens.”

Peter’s eyebrows shoot up. “Yeah, right. Me and Aunt May used to live at this place on 98th street that had the best egg and cheese bagels anywhere.”

“Oof, those are fighting words, kid. You can’t insult Brooklyn to my face.”

“Hey, I never back down from a fight!” Peter laughs with a gleam in his eyes.

Fondness curls around Bucky’s chest again, hearing those words in a different voice. “Nah, Peter,” he lightly punches the kid’s shoulder. “I know you’re not the type.”

Peter smiles, a genuine smile, and Bucky thinks he sees a hint of an embarrassed blush. “So, Mister--” Bucky cuts him off with a sharp look. He maybe 95, but he ain’t old. “So, Bucky,” Peter corrects. “Can I ask about you?”

Bucky shrugs. “Sure. Don’t remember everything but I’ll tell you what I can.”

Peter looks sheepish. “I, uh, just wanted to know what it was like growing up. For you, I mean. And Cap-- Steve.”

Bucky looks at the kid, really looks at him, and sees something soft behind his eyes. Something like understanding. “What do you want to know?”

Peter shrugs. “Anything you’d want to tell me.”

“I assume you know the basics from history class, right?” Bucky teases.  
  
“ _‘Best friends since childhood,’_ ” Peter recites. “ _‘Inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield.’_ ”

Bucky barks out a laugh. “Jesus Christ.”

“They made us memorize it for class!” Peter laughs, defending himself. “Besides, I’ve been through that exhibit a couple times, when I first got the powers.” He pauses, not meeting Bucky’s eyes. “Made me feel less alone, I guess.”

Bucky’s overcome with the urge to grab him and keep him close. Protect him. He sees so damn much of him in the kid, even the way his voice breaks when he’s trying to hold it together. It’s almost imperceptible, but years of memories of this same tone of voice pierce through his hazy mind, and all he can do is try to fix it.

“Think we all feel that way sometimes, you know?” He’s not the best at comforting, but for Peter, he wants to try. “Steve lost his parents real young. Shut himself off. Tried to get rid of me, but he never could. Always turned up like a bad penny, he said.”

Peter turns to face Bucky, his eyes wide. Bucky finds it hard to look into them, but harder to look away. “Steve’d never let me wallow, so I wasn’t about to let him. I’d take him out, get him out of his head. But he was…”

“Stubborn?” Peter offered gently. Knowingly. Bucky hadn’t even realized he’d trailed off.

“Yeah. Stubborn.” Bucky runs his hand through his hair again. “Picking fights with guys twice his size, just tryin’ to prove something to himself, I guess.”

“Maybe he thought it would help.” It’s so quiet, Bucky almost misses it.

“What?”

Peter balks. “Oh, no I’m-- I didn’t mean to…”

Bucky places a hand on his knee. “It’s okay. What do you mean?”

He sighs, fiddling with his sleeve again. Bucky stops him. “I just meant like. When you lose your parents, or anybody,” Peter chews his lip. “Sometimes you feel like there’s something you did to deserve it. Like it’s your fault or something.”

Bucky doesn’t interrupt, doesn’t say It’s not your fault, because the kid knows that. He listens, waits to hear him again.

“And after a while,” Peter finally continues. “You maybe just look for a way to sort of...be resolved of it, I guess.”

It clicks for Bucky then. Steve was paying his penance, like a martyr sacrificing themselves to absolve them of all they’ve done wrong. The reason he joined the war, the reason he joined SHIELD. Steve felt like it was his fault that he lost his parents, and later that he’d lost Bucky. Until Steve could forgive himself, he’d throw himself in every self-sacrificing situation he could.

And so would the kid. “Peter?”

He looks up, startled. “Yeah?”

“How did you end up here?”

“I…” Peter hesitates. “Here?”

Bucky nods.

“Well, when they attacked, I...I couldn’t do nothing. I had to help.”

“Had to kill them before they killed you?” Bucky asks.

Peter gives him a shocked look. “I don’t wanna kill anyone. I just...want to look out for the little guy.”

Bucky’s struck still by Peter. He hears Steve’s voice in him, sees that the same hearts beat in both their chests, and Bucky will be damned if he lets this kid feel the same pain they felt.

“Me too,” Bucky hears himself say, and Peter’s face brightens. Bucky reaches for his shoulder, and Peter leans into the touch. They sit in silence for a moment, Peter reassured by Bucky’s presence.

“ _Bucky?_ ” he hears distantly. It sounds like it’s coming from somewhere far away. He looks at Peter, who’s already looking at him. He blinks. That didn’t sound like Peter’s voice. “ _Buck?_ ” He tenses, grabbing Peter protectively. Instinctively.

“What… where is that coming from?” Peter begins to panic.

“Kid, don’t-- just stay here.” Bucky looks around, distantly hearing the voice again. He braces himself as Peter jumps.

“Bucky, I feel something. Something’s happening, I don’t-- what is this?” Peter sounds terrified, and Bucky’s chest clenches. He goes to open his mouth, to say anything, to save them, then everything goes white.

***

“ _Bucky?_ Bucky!” He’s jolted awake by a familiar voice. His limbs are heavy but his mind suddenly feels sharp. He opens his eyes and his breath is knocked out of his lungs.

“Steve,” Bucky breathes out, lunging forward and wrapping his arms around him like a vice. He feels the familiar warmth of Steve’s body against his, and for a moment, he begins to relax. Before he can let himself calm down, he’s struck by panic. “The kid, where’s the kid?” He leans back to look Steve in the eyes. “Where’s Peter?”

The softness with which Steve looks at him sends a rush of peace through him. “Peter’s fine, Buck, he’s here.”

Bucky looks around for the first time, not even realizing he hasn’t taken in his surroundings. He turns to find Peter lying on a couch across the room, Tony and Pepper fretting over him, shouting at FRIDAY to check his vitals again. They’re back in the Avengers tower. Bucky smiles as he meets Peter’s eyes, an incredulous look on his face.

“Bucky?” Steve and Peter both say at once. A smile washes over his face as he lets his head drop back to Steve’s shoulder.

“I’m here,” he says. “I’m with you.” Bucky grabs him by the shoulder like he did to Peter earlier, like he’s done to Steve for years.

Steve grabs him and holds him close, pulling him against his chest so tight he thinks he might suffocate. He’d be okay with it. Steve looks down at him inquisitively. “You looked after the kid.” It’s not a question. It’s soft, though, quiet. His eyes are wide.

“I’ve looked after you since you had no front teeth. It was no different.” Bucky smiles wide when Steve grins at him, and he kisses him on the forehead, almost like he can’t believe he’s real. “He’s like you, you know. More than you could imagine. Scares the hell out of me,” Bucky confesses.

Steve gives him a long look. His eyes soften. Bucky can look through him again. “We gotta protect him,” Steve says quietly. “I don’t want him turning into me.”

There’s the Steve he knows, always dramatic and self-deprecating. He smirks up at him and calls Peter over.

“Hey kid?” Peter beams, padding over to him and Steve, still wrapped in a blanket. Bucky motions for him to sit beside them. Peter does, tentatively, then grins when Bucky slings an arm around him. “Tell Steve over here what you said about Brooklyn bagels.”

Side by side, it’s incredible to see how Peter and Steve share the same smile.


End file.
